Competent leaders key to competent civil servants

Editor, I wish to respond to the article, “Hiring of incompetent civil servants to be probed” (The New Times, November 15).

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Editor,I wish to respond to the article, "Hiring of incompetent civil servants to be probed” (The New Times, November 15).Hiring and maintaining competent employees are two different things. Part of the problem is that many organisations do not specify what they expect of their employees. If organisations don’t define their expectations, then their employees’ productivity will not ‘impress’.Related to this is the fact that bosses rarely hold their staff accountable for delivering and applying what they have learnt during training; as a result, many training programmes have little impact on organisational outcomes.Solution: Hire competent leaders. Competent leaders hire and develop the right people, set and enforce the rules for getting along and getting ahead, acquire the resources needed to achieve key goals, and create clear and compelling visions of the future.Immaculate, United States